


Akaya's Question

by Featherfire



Category: Prince of Tennis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-21
Updated: 2013-10-21
Packaged: 2017-12-30 02:34:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,312
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1013013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Featherfire/pseuds/Featherfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Akaya may be a demon on the court, but he's still pretty innocent everywhere else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Akaya's Question

Akaya hadn't really meant to spy on Sanada and Yukimura kissing behind the lockers. Really, the locker room was a public place, at least in terms of the tennis club, and _anyone_ could have caught them. He had enough sense of self-preservation to flatten himself against the lockers again before Sanada felt him with the radar dishes he called ears (heard his breathing or the beat of his heart or the strands of his hair shifting against one another or the movement of his blood cells or the turning of his DNA or something), and only peek out the tiniest bit from behind them.

Yukimura had his arms twined around Sanada's neck, body flush against his. Sanada's hat was off his head, held out of reach in one of Yukimura's graceful, white hands. Everyone on the team knew how much Yukimura detested that hat, and he took every opportunity to snatch it off Sanada's head---much to the vice-captain's chagrin and the amusement of everyone else. 

Sanada had his arms wrapped around Yukimura's waist, head bent to press his lips tenderly against Yukimura's. Akaya hadn't known Sanada could do _anything_ tenderly, even kissing. He'd always thought that kissing Sanada (not that he thought overmuch about kissing Sanada) would be like smacking your face into a brick wall.

Yukimura certainly seemed to be enjoying it, however, from the way his back curved to press into Sanada's chest, the hand not holding the hat sliding into Sanada's hair. Watching them made Akaya's insides flutter in a way that he wasn't sure how to interpret, and after a moment he edged away and left the locker room as quietly as he could.

*****

"Senpai, will you kiss me?"

Jackal sputtered, quickly lowering his can of iced coffee to the table as he struggled not to inhale the drink. Beside him, Marui's eyes widened, and then he erupted into gales of raucous laughter, tipping his chair back and holding his stomach.

Akaya scowled.

"No, Akaya," Jackal replied, as calmly as he could manage.

"Why not?" Akaya demanded. "You don't think I'd be any good?"

"It's not that," Jackal allowed. "I mean..." He ducked his head a little, and though his skin was too dark to actually _see_ a blush, he managed to get the sentiment across. Marui laughed even harder. "I'm not gay," he managed finally.

"So? Neither am I. I just want to know what it's like."

"So how come you don't go kiss a girl?" Marui asked, taking another bite of his cake. "M'sure deresh losh of girlsh who would lub to kish you," he added, mouth full.

Akaya rolled his eyes. What was so hard to understand? "I don't want to kiss a girl," he answered patiently. "I want to know what it's like to kiss another _guy."_

"Akaya, you can't just _ask_ people things like that," Jackal chided gently, as if speaking to a very small but truculent child. Somehow, from Jackal, the words and tone didn't rankle as much as they would coming from anyone else. "What brought this on, anyway?"

Akaya sniffed. "I saw buchou and fukubuchou kissing the other day. It looked nice."

Now it was Marui's turn to splutter as he nearly inhaled his sugar cane juice. "Serious? Shit, Niou owes me a thousand yen!" He slapped his hand on the table, then looked at Akaya again. "He bet me that he'd be the first one to catch them doing something. You didn't get pictures, did you?"

Akaya jerked his head back, then snorted. "Are you insane? Sanada would have had his fist in my face before I so much as thought about it. No, I just watched a little."

"Damn, he'll never believe you if you just say you saw. You need proof."

"I didn't plan to tell Niou-senpai," Akaya protested.

Marui blinked, seeming genuinely surprised. "Why not?"

Akaya shrugged. "If they've kept it from us this long, they obviously want it to stay a secret. You know buchou, he doesn't keep secrets. Besides, if we exposed them, couldn't they get---kicked off the team, or something?"

Marui snickered. "Akaya, they're gay, not... girls, or perverts, or something."

"Oh." He gazed down at his lemonade. In truth, he felt vaguely guilty for watching even as long as he had. He had a lot of respect for Yukimura and---grudgingly---for Sanada, and disliked having walked in on their private moment. Now he even regretted telling Jackal and Marui, his two best friends, and embarrassed that he'd preceded it by asking Jackal to kiss him.

The other two stayed silent for a long moment. "You're right, Akaya," Jackal said finally. "It would be improper of us to tell. When they're ready, Yukimura and Sanada will tell us themselves."

"Unless Niou catches them first," Marui added. "I guess I can stand to lose a thousand yen." This was said in a rather reluctant grumble, and he glanced at Jackal in a way that said _he_ would be the one to pay the thousand yen if Marui lost the bet. Jackal smiled, and shook his head.

They took the train home, crammed shoulder to shoulder with commuters, Akaya sandwiched between Marui and Jackal. Marui's elbow jammed into his ribs, and his head was nearly one with Jackal's armpit, but Akaya didn't mind. He felt more comfortable with his senpai than he did with his own family.

They went to Marui's house. Marui ate more, Jackal did his homework, and Akaya played video games. After a while, Jackal left, saying he had to help his mother with dinner. Akaya and Marui kept playing for a while longer, until the sun began to set and Akaya had to admit he should probably get home too.

Marui walked him into the backyard, where he could take the side streets to tbe bus stop. Just before he reached the back gate, Marui's voice stopped him.

"Cummere, Akaya," Marui ordered, and pointed to the spot in front of him. Puzzled, Akaya turned, went back and stood before his senpai.

"Close your eyes," Marui directed, Akaya did.

"You wanna know what it's like to kiss another guy? Here." Before Akaya could reply, or even open his eyes again, he felt the soft press of Marui's lips against his. They were cool, faintly moist, and he could taste the sweetness of the sugar cane juice he'd drank earlier. A thrill shot through him, something akin to being hit by a very small, pleasurable bolt of lightning. His skin tingled, all the way down to his toes. He felt his heart speed up.

When Marui pulled away, he opened his eyes slowly. "Wow," he breathed. "No wonder buchou looked so happy..." He stared at Marui, lost for a moment in the lilac depths of his eyes.

Marui chuckled. "Now go home," he said, and gave Akaya a light push on one shoulder. "You have an English test to study for and your breath smells like takoyaki."

Akaya blushed, but grinned and stepped back. As he headed for the gate again, he had another thought. He turned back to look at Marui over his shoulder. "Senpai?"

Marui, still standing where Akaya had left him, raised his eyebrows in query.

Akaya hesitated a moment before he spoke again. "Was...was it nice for you too?"

Marui smiled---a softer smile than Akaya had ever seen, and his eyes twinkled. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, it was nice."

Akaya smiled back, and turned back toward the gate feeling lighter than air. Each step he took felt as though the next one would just lift him off into the sky. The gate latch was cool, the metal hard under his hand, slightly rough with a few tiny spots of rust. The solid, real feel of it brought him back to reality a bit, but even as the gate closed behind him, he was smiling.


End file.
